Detroit union contracts will be honored under emergency manager

Apr. 4, 2013

Written by

Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

Several Detroit public-safety unions were angry after Mayor Dave Bing's top labor negotiator sent letters to union leaders and state officials this week saying that the city no longer has to bargain now that the city has an emergency manager.

"There's no way you can read my letters to mean that," Satchel said Thursday.

An April 1 letter to the Detroit Police Lieutenants and Sergeants Association said that because the city came under control of an emergency manager March 28, "the city is no longer obligated to participate in collective bargaining" or mediation on disputes or changes to successor contracts.

Satchel said that means that the Bing administration is no longer required to negotiate disputes with public safety unions, but terms of current contracts will be honored. Reports saying the city considered itself free from labor agreements were erroneous, he said.

Satchel sent similar letters to officials at the Michigan Employment Relations Commission and the Bureau of Employment Relations regarding talks with the Detroit Police Officers Association, the Detroit Fire Fighters Association and the Police Officers Association of Michigan, which represents EMS workers.

That reading of the letters stirred up a hornet's nest this week, even though Orr has yet to begin what undoubtedly will be tough negotiations with the city's unions, including likely cuts to retiree health care and pensions. Such benefits are a huge chunk of the $14 billion in long-term liabilities that pushed Detroit to the brink of bankruptcy.

"I don't think the bargaining units took it as just an informational letter," Nowling said. "That letter was not authorized by the emergency manager. He wasn't aware of it until it was sent out, and whether or not the city vacates any collective-bargaining agreements has to be an order" issued by Orr.

Current contracts -- including with conditions imposed on unions -- "are still in place until they are vacated by order or new agreements are agreed to by the bargaining units and the emergency manager," Nowling said.

Firefighters were among those concerned by the letter.

"We're very happy that Mr. Orr weighed in and that his position is what it is," fire union president Dan McNamara said. "We're looking forward to meeting with him and hopefully having peaceful negotiations that will continue to allow us to provide good fire service."